wring your hands

ˌwring your ˈhands

twist and rub your hands together because you are very worried, upset or anxious: He stood there, wringing his hands in despair. ♢ It’s no use just wringing our hands — we must do something. ▶ ˈhand-wringing noun: No amount of hand-wringing can change the situation.

Unfortunately, they then wring their hands in pain in their realisation that this cannot be done and roll over in defeatism stating : "But I'm afraid myself and Dean will have to dream on as the current crop of politicians we have to do what they want and not what we want.

Libertarians certainly have been known to criticize and ridicule moralists even when they aren't calling for government coercion--for instance, when they wring their hands over the loss of cultural constraints on sexuality.

During the post-mortem after November's election debacle--at which Republican bigwigs gathered to wring their hands and point fingers--Sununu brought his audience down memory lane by pontificating on education funding-related issues and condescendingly "lecturing" anyone who dared disagree with him.

Everything about it is designed to shock, from the brilliant light falling on the huddled prisoners, the pitiful way they cover their faces or wring their hands, and the pungent smears of blood on the ground, to the nearness of the executioners' muzzles to their victims.

Typically, underwriters are squeezed between the marketing department's claim that they are too conservative and too much business goes to competitors, and the tendency of management to wring their hands when there is a "blip" in mortality.

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